BLEED
PLOT-A group of friends invite a beautiful stranger to join their secret "Murder Club".
VIOLENCE-Nice gory effects courtesy of Joe Castro! Intestines spill out, throats are cut, necks are snapped, heads are bashed in, and of course you have some nice stabbings too.
SEX/NUDITY-There's a pool party scene where basically everone is naked, plus several topless shots at various times in the film.
WHY I WATCHED IT-Debbie Rochon is all I need to say! She's not only the star of this film, but is the single greatest actor working in independent film today. I cannot say enough about this woman. She makes any movie good. There aren't too many names that will automatically cause me to rent or buy a film sight unseen. Debbie is one of them, and if you see anything with her starring in it, you'll know why. She can act like nobody's business.
THE DOPE-I really dug this movie, not just for another awesome leading role from miss Rochon, but because it was also well-written and had a great ending that I didn't see coming. Plus, most all the acting is good enough to where you don't sit there thinking someone is just reading off a cue card. This movie has a couple other things going for it as well: for one thing, Julie Strain is in the opening scene! That's right, she stays on screen long enough to be topless, say a few cuss words, and get her head smashed with a hammer. And speaking of heads smashed in with hammers, FX duty on this film went to none other than Joe Castro. Incase you didn't know, he directed last year's brilliantly twisted TERROR TOONS and the upcoming H.G. Lewis-inspired MANIACAL. Check that shit out yo. BLEED is another winner for Debbie Rochon, and extra cool points for involving Strain and Castro too.
MEMORABLE SCENES-Debbie's character fights with a woman who dings her car in a parking lot. Man, there have been times when I wanted to do that.
DVD NOTES-This very nice disc features many deleted scenes, allows you to watch rehearsal footage from 4 separate scenes, and has 2 hidden short films; one made by BLEED director Devin Hamilton, which you can access by going to his bio page and pressing up and enter, and one by BLEED co-director/editor Dennis Petersen, which can be accessed by doing the same (the latter short was co-produced by Kenny Yakkel, director of the infamous film STOP IT YOU'RE KILLING ME).

(January 2003) 1